In our private school the students do own their laptops. We provide the wireless infrastructure and connection to the Internet. The only thing I install on their laptops is the key to the WAP.
We have various filters in place. These filters are designed to achieve various goals.
One is to prevent bandwidth-hogging (we can't afford a gigabit fiber run to the Internet backbone, so we have to share our bandwidth wisely). Nor do we feel compelled to to pay for content that hinders the academic process (see below).
Another is to prevent "time wasters". How many schools let kids bring in their XBoxes to set up and play during class time? They are there to learn, not play games, socialize on Facebook, etc. I find it funny how many will rant about the situation of American schools vs. others, especially in math and science, and then go an suggest that kids be allowed to do whatever they want on their laptops during class. (BTW, our filters switch into a "relaxed" mode at the end of the day when kids are in study halls with little to do.)
Another is to protect them from things like online pornography, etc. I'm not even going to waste time as to argue why this is a good thing.
Another is to protect the network and their own computers from spyware, viruses, etc.. Our network is proactive in that it will cut off any computer that aggressively tries to "break out" or behaves like it's infected.
Since filters are not perfect, a report is generated weekly for each teacher, showing them exactly what sites their own students are visiting and during which classes. Technology can assist good classroom management, but it can never replace it.
At least, something like this. Take your video camera (or web cam or whatever), connect it to your computer, and use mplayer to view it. I've only used mplayer in Linux, but this probably would work in other OSes as well. You can set up mplayer to play the output of a DV stream, for example, or anything tied into video for Linux. When you run mplayer, use the
mplayer -vo aa
option, which changes the video out to animated ascii. It does this live, so you will now be viewing the world in ascii! Granted, we're not talking googles, but it will give you an idea of what you will see. I suppose when the new Linux phone comes out, you could strap two in front of your face and strap the camera to your head and make these googles for yourself:-)
For example, I'm a born-again Christian who leans right / conservative in many of today's social debates. I'm also geek, at least anyone who knows me will tell me that:-)
That said, I'm not a stereotypical fundamentalist in all areas. I believe global warming is a real problem that has to be dealt with. I think George Bush screwed up in a big way in Iraq and other areas of policy. I'm skeptical of the capitalism, as it depends on an economic model that is destructive to our planet and favors the rich over the poor. In other words, I'm not just blindly fitting myself into one category of political / economic alignment. One group usually doesn't have all the answers.
Sure, maybe more nerds have long pony-tails than short hair, and maybe more have body odor than not. However, I think you'll find there's greater variety and diversity within this people-group we call "nerds" than is implied by the original post.
- Mike
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Most bootscripts are very generic in that they will try to load all sorts of RAID drivers, various services that are not needed, special fonts, etc.. I've gone in on my computers and wrote a very simple, quick, and to-the-point bootscript (easy to do with a little BASH knowledge), and my system boots up remarkedly fast. Granted, my bootscript isn't very portable, but one of the benefits of Linux is the ability to customize it.
Another trick is to prelink files and let KDE (if that is what you use) know about it. Even the startkde script can be long and drawn out, so trimming the fat and only including what's needed on your system can make a big difference. I've shaved over 13 seconds off a boot sequence by writing a minimum bootscript for my hardware, and that was using a relatively fast distro to start with.
I just thought about this for a minute, if you have a brain the size of Texas, then it would take quite some time for the electrical (or is it sound these day) impulses to go from one side of the brain to the other. Would that not make for a slow brain?
Or, when you say "brain of texas", are you talking about George Bush?
The course itself is not the point of going to college. If you did this instead of taking a course you would be missing out on the interaction with the professor as well as the connections/letters of recommendation you would get if you were actually attending MIT.
I don't disagree with you, especially regarding young people just out of High School. However, I find this option wonderful for people like myself who are older, settled, and in a well-established career. I came from a relatively poor family, and therefore took the military route to get my education in technology. That education has served me well, and I'm quite satisfied in my current employment, but I'm really enjoying utilizing these and other courses to help keep my mind sharp in areas I'm proficient in and also learn subjects of interest "just for the fun of it".
I'll never go (I know, never say never) to a school like MIT or Berkley at this point in my life, but I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to virtually "sit in" on classes offered from these schools and broaden my knowledge in areas I'm passionate about.
I once was about to display a video to a class I teach, but my computer I use for this was finishing a long compile (I thought it would be done in time when I started it). Of course, trying to play a video while the computer is compiling software seems crazy, but I sure didn't want to interrupt the compile process so close to being done. So, I played around with the "nice" command, and believe it or not, I was a able to give enough priority to mplayer to allow the video to play WHILE the computer was compiling WITHOUT skips!
So, look up "nice" in the man pages and give it a try. Also, I find that if one doesn't get overly gung-ho with the preemptive features of the kernel (aim for the medium preemption), things like moving windows won't "preempt" your classical music playing in the background, etc.
I'm going on my 4th year teaching Python at the Junior High level. Here's why:
Like BASIC, Python can be very easy to learn. The one line print "Hello World" is right to the point. However, Python is also an extremely powerful language, allowing those students who excel and go "beyond the basics" to do more. My first year teaching programming was with a version of BASIC, and while young kids could learn it, it was limiting to those wanted to do more.
After tackling the basics with print, we move on to graphics, which kids find much more exciting. Pygame is wonderful for this, because it makes drawing simple geometric shapes like circles and lines and rectangles very easy. Like Python, Pygame (an SDL wrapper for Python) can be simple but it offers tremendous power to those who have an aptitude for the subject. Ability to work with bitmaps, sprites, and various devices gives advanced students a good challenge. While technically Pygame is Object Oriented, you can use it very "procedurally", which is a good idea for young kids.
We offer a Programming II class for our High School where students pick up where they left off in JH. This course is an elective, so only those with an interest (usually those with aptitude) take the course. Instead of learning a new language from scratch (believe me, these students would have gotten bored with Logo the first week), we start looking at more advanced applications with Python, including OO programming, GUIs, libraries (modules in Python), etc.
Back when I started this class, I looked high and low for a good, simple, yet powerful-when-needed programming language. The "experts" then recommended Python. I've used it for 3+ years and have no regrets! Of course, JH is a bit different than first grade. However, I seem to remember something about Python having a Logo module? I myself have been looking to introduce Programming to grade 2 or 3, nothing heavy, just a whistle-wetter, and for that Logo was of interest. Other priorities have kept me from pursuing the lower grades this year, unfortunately.
I'm also not crazy about how 20% of the program is in Java.
I'm curious, does anyone know why Sun did this (I'm assuming this is from Sun's StarOffice). I know Sun is going to push Java, but why a Java / C++ hybrid? Why not all one or the other?
Looks like most of the US will need to charter a boat, as the opposite side of the globe is in the ocean. At least I know now not to try to dig that hole to china.
I remember eagerly awaiting the release of OpenOffice 2.0, only to have it delayed a number of months (and waiting in limbo since there wasn't any clear launch date after the delay). When it finally did come out, I found it a bit too bloated (takes FOREVER to load on my system) and thus I just stuck with the original. Seems Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org have more in common than first meets the eye:-)
I use this all the time to scale down photos from digital camera before emailing them to friends. Just be careful, as find by default will recursively search all child directories and thus could convert more than what you originally had in mind.
An interesting study was done by the U.S. Military (the Airforce, I believe) concerning Open Source and it's place in the department of defense, though it is written in such a way to be useful to non-military personnel and applications. It is a similar, yet IMHO, a more interesting read than the parent.
We switched our computers over to Linux over about 4 years ago, and I'm very happy with the switch, both as a teacher and the system administrator. As others have said, making such a switch should not be done without some serious thought and research.
I invite you to visit our school's website at http://www.ghca.com/computers to learn more about our own experiences with Linux (the page includes links to two articles I published regarding our switch). Please feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions!
Slashdot Mirror
We have various filters in place. These filters are designed to achieve various goals.
One is to prevent bandwidth-hogging (we can't afford a gigabit fiber run to the Internet backbone, so we have to share our bandwidth wisely). Nor do we feel compelled to to pay for content that hinders the academic process (see below).
Another is to prevent "time wasters". How many schools let kids bring in their XBoxes to set up and play during class time? They are there to learn, not play games, socialize on Facebook, etc. I find it funny how many will rant about the situation of American schools vs. others, especially in math and science, and then go an suggest that kids be allowed to do whatever they want on their laptops during class. (BTW, our filters switch into a "relaxed" mode at the end of the day when kids are in study halls with little to do.)
Another is to protect them from things like online pornography, etc. I'm not even going to waste time as to argue why this is a good thing.
Another is to protect the network and their own computers from spyware, viruses, etc.. Our network is proactive in that it will cut off any computer that aggressively tries to "break out" or behaves like it's infected.
Since filters are not perfect, a report is generated weekly for each teacher, showing them exactly what sites their own students are visiting and during which classes. Technology can assist good classroom management, but it can never replace it.
- Michael.
emerge -vauD world
I wonder if they will make the pictures of the aliens available? After all, they know about them!
That said, I'm not a stereotypical fundamentalist in all areas. I believe global warming is a real problem that has to be dealt with. I think George Bush screwed up in a big way in Iraq and other areas of policy. I'm skeptical of the capitalism, as it depends on an economic model that is destructive to our planet and favors the rich over the poor. In other words, I'm not just blindly fitting myself into one category of political / economic alignment. One group usually doesn't have all the answers.
Sure, maybe more nerds have long pony-tails than short hair, and maybe more have body odor than not. However, I think you'll find there's greater variety and diversity within this people-group we call "nerds" than is implied by the original post.
- Mike
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Most bootscripts are very generic in that they will try to load all sorts of RAID drivers, various services that are not needed, special fonts, etc.. I've gone in on my computers and wrote a very simple, quick, and to-the-point bootscript (easy to do with a little BASH knowledge), and my system boots up remarkedly fast. Granted, my bootscript isn't very portable, but one of the benefits of Linux is the ability to customize it.
Another trick is to prelink files and let KDE (if that is what you use) know about it. Even the startkde script can be long and drawn out, so trimming the fat and only including what's needed on your system can make a big difference. I've shaved over 13 seconds off a boot sequence by writing a minimum bootscript for my hardware, and that was using a relatively fast distro to start with.
-Mike
Or, when you say "brain of texas", are you talking about George Bush?
I don't disagree with you, especially regarding young people just out of High School. However, I find this option wonderful for people like myself who are older, settled, and in a well-established career. I came from a relatively poor family, and therefore took the military route to get my education in technology. That education has served me well, and I'm quite satisfied in my current employment, but I'm really enjoying utilizing these and other courses to help keep my mind sharp in areas I'm proficient in and also learn subjects of interest "just for the fun of it".
I'll never go (I know, never say never) to a school like MIT or Berkley at this point in my life, but I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to virtually "sit in" on classes offered from these schools and broaden my knowledge in areas I'm passionate about.
I once was about to display a video to a class I teach, but my computer I use for this was finishing a long compile (I thought it would be done in time when I started it). Of course, trying to play a video while the computer is compiling software seems crazy, but I sure didn't want to interrupt the compile process so close to being done. So, I played around with the "nice" command, and believe it or not, I was a able to give enough priority to mplayer to allow the video to play WHILE the computer was compiling WITHOUT skips!
So, look up "nice" in the man pages and give it a try. Also, I find that if one doesn't get overly gung-ho with the preemptive features of the kernel (aim for the medium preemption), things like moving windows won't "preempt" your classical music playing in the background, etc.
Considering the system requirements for Vista, I don't think it will qualify as a "very small part" of anyone's computer experience :-)
Like BASIC, Python can be very easy to learn. The one line print "Hello World" is right to the point. However, Python is also an extremely powerful language, allowing those students who excel and go "beyond the basics" to do more. My first year teaching programming was with a version of BASIC, and while young kids could learn it, it was limiting to those wanted to do more.
After tackling the basics with print, we move on to graphics, which kids find much more exciting. Pygame is wonderful for this, because it makes drawing simple geometric shapes like circles and lines and rectangles very easy. Like Python, Pygame (an SDL wrapper for Python) can be simple but it offers tremendous power to those who have an aptitude for the subject. Ability to work with bitmaps, sprites, and various devices gives advanced students a good challenge. While technically Pygame is Object Oriented, you can use it very "procedurally", which is a good idea for young kids.
We offer a Programming II class for our High School where students pick up where they left off in JH. This course is an elective, so only those with an interest (usually those with aptitude) take the course. Instead of learning a new language from scratch (believe me, these students would have gotten bored with Logo the first week), we start looking at more advanced applications with Python, including OO programming, GUIs, libraries (modules in Python), etc.
Back when I started this class, I looked high and low for a good, simple, yet powerful-when-needed programming language. The "experts" then recommended Python. I've used it for 3+ years and have no regrets! Of course, JH is a bit different than first grade. However, I seem to remember something about Python having a Logo module? I myself have been looking to introduce Programming to grade 2 or 3, nothing heavy, just a whistle-wetter, and for that Logo was of interest. Other priorities have kept me from pursuing the lower grades this year, unfortunately.
Anywho, let me know if you have any questions!
-Mike
Computer Science teacher
I'm curious, does anyone know why Sun did this (I'm assuming this is from Sun's StarOffice). I know Sun is going to push Java, but why a Java / C++ hybrid? Why not all one or the other?
Anyway, I too find this annoying..
Mike
Looks like most of the US will need to charter a boat, as the opposite side of the globe is in the ocean. At least I know now not to try to dig that hole to china.
I remember eagerly awaiting the release of OpenOffice 2.0, only to have it delayed a number of months (and waiting in limbo since there wasn't any clear launch date after the delay). When it finally did come out, I found it a bit too bloated (takes FOREVER to load on my system) and thus I just stuck with the original. Seems Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org have more in common than first meets the eye :-)
I use this all the time to scale down photos from digital camera before emailing them to friends. Just be careful, as find by default will recursively search all child directories and thus could convert more than what you originally had in mind.
An interesting study was done by the U.S. Military (the Airforce, I believe) concerning Open Source and it's place in the department of defense, though it is written in such a way to be useful to non-military personnel and applications. It is a similar, yet IMHO, a more interesting read than the parent.
The report can be found as a PDF at http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/crosstalk/2005/01/0501 Tuma.pdf
We switched our computers over to Linux over about 4 years ago, and I'm very happy with the switch, both as a teacher and the system administrator. As others have said, making such a switch should not be done without some serious thought and research.
I invite you to visit our school's website at http://www.ghca.com/computers to learn more about our own experiences with Linux (the page includes links to two articles I published regarding our switch). Please feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions!
Mike - aka "Old Duck"